NIAB Research Shows Yield and Resilience Gains with Biostimulants
Trials to establish performance impacts of co-applying the highly concentrated natural bio-stimulant and nutrient source, AminoA FLO, with reduced rates of the latest generation fungicides on winter wheat (var. Beowulf), has returned promising results.
The findings suggest that reducing fungicide rates in combination with AminoA FLO does not compromise performance, while performance was enhanced compared to when low rates of fungicide was applied alone.
Nick Andderson, technical director at Velcourt comments, “We trialled the addition of AminoA FLO with different levels of fungicide at our Fonthill trial site in Dorset. Despite the dry conditions, all fungicide treatments increased yield.
“In this trial, lower rates of fungicide applied with AminoA FLO resulted in statistically similar yields to higher rates of fungicide, which is in line with previous work looking at the bio-stimulant from AminoA, undertaken by Velcourt.”
Mr Anderson added that green leaf area was significantly higher in a number of treatments where AminoA FLO was included, when compared with the same level of fungicide input without it, and numerically higher in all treatments, although this did not always reflect in yield.
“It is possible that in 2025, factors other than sunlight interception, such as moisture and grain number, were limiting to yield instead,” he continues.
“Velcourt has looked at AminoA products in trials over several seasons, and on a number of occasions the addition of AminoA FLO has resulted in statistically significant increases in green leaf area and yield, particularly at lower levels of fungicide input,” he adds.
The crops were drilled on 13 November 2024, with assessments in June and July this year, ahead of a harvest date of 21 August 2025.
Richard Phillips, AminoA managing director concludes, “These findings support work done in previous years by Velcourt using the latest generation fungicides, as well as work done by NIAB using low-cost fungicide programmes based on Tebuconazole.”